Forty days, countless buses, two trips aboard Con Air, and an alarming number of questionable sandwiches. Spencer revisits the winding journey from his arrest in Philadelphia to federal prison, finding absurdity, unexpected kindness, and an ill-advised tattoo along the way.

Recorded November 3, 2026—the eve of Freedom Day—this episode closes one chapter and looks ahead to whatever comes next.

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Call It Whatever with Spencer Jenkins
New episodes every week.

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© 2026 Call It Whatever. All rights reserved.

What does it mean to start over without a home, a door, or a dish?

This is the story of how a successful lawyer with a Manhattan zip code and a Wall Street office lost almost everything he had as he lost himself—and the people who found him again.

Oh, and a dinosaur is involved. Nominally.

For anyone who's having trouble making it home, literally or figuratively, this episode is for you.

Welcome to Call It Whatever.

Content note: Contains discussions of addiction, homelessness, and incarceration.

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Call It Whatever with Spencer Jenkins
New episodes every week.

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© 2026 Call It Whatever. All rights reserved.

In this episode, Spencer explores the difference between community and connection, and our need for both.

With help from an unexpected friendship forged in difficult circumstances, and from the ever-present but sometimes questionable benefits of a virtual office full of AI chatbots, Spencer finds that the best thing we can do is to get out and find connection among real people.

Research and survey data quoted in this episode came from the following sources:

• Stanford University, “AI Companions May Worsen Loneliness for Vulnerable Users” (Stanford HAI): https://hai.stanford.edu/news/ai-companions-may-worsen-loneliness-for-vulnerable-users-stanford-study-finds
• Zhang et al., Nature Human Behaviour (2026), study of Character.AI users: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-026-02516-2
• Fang et al., MIT Media Lab and OpenAI, “How AI and Human Behaviors Shape Psychosocial Effects of Chatbot Use: A Longitudinal Randomized Controlled Study”: https://www.media.mit.edu/publications/how-ai-and-human-behaviors-shape-psychosocial-effects-of-chatbot-use-a-longitudinal-controlled-study/
• De Freitas, Oğuz-Uğuralp, Uğuralp & Puntoni, “AI Companions Reduce Loneliness,” Journal of Consumer Research: https://doi.org/10.1093/jcr/ucaf040
• De Freitas et al., Nature Human Behaviour (2026), grief following AI companion model updates, as reported by the Harvard Gazette: https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2026/09/chatbot-attachment-issues/
• Chu et al., “Illusions of Intimacy: Emotional Attachment and Emerging Psychological Risks in Human-AI Relationships”: https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.11649
• “Tool or Companion? Reframing Conversational AI to Prevent Psychological Harm” (on “structurally asymmetric” interaction): https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13561399/
• Dohnány et al., “Technological folie à deux: Feedback Loops Between AI Chatbots and Mental Health,” Nature Mental Health (2026): https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.19218

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Call It Whatever with Spencer Jenkins
New episodes every week.

Listen, follow, and find more: callitwhateverpodcast.com

© 2026 Call It Whatever. All rights reserved.